When you hear that little pitchers have big ears, do you think of a lemonade pitcher or a baseball pitcher? In The Wisdom of Many: Essays On The Proverb, Wolfgang Mieder points out that a lot of people think it refers to a Little League pitcher with big ears sticking out of their baseball cap, though it’s really about a drink pitcher. Still, that’s no excuse for yelling nasty things at Little League games! This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Little Drink Pitchers”
When we spoke to Omar in Texas about the saying,
Little pitchers have big ears,
Yeah, I love that.
I was reminded of this book, Wisdom of Many, by Wolfgang Meter.
It’s called Essays on the Proverb.
And he’s got a passage in there where he talks about people
Who misunderstand the origin of that expression.
When they hear little pitchers have big ears,
They think of 10-year-old little league pitchers on their mounds
Wearing baseball caps with giant ears sticking out,
Kind of Alfred E. Newman throwing the ball.
Yeah, Opie.
So they understand that it means that children are listening,
But what they don’t understand is how the pitcher comes into it.
Oh, my gosh.
I never thought of that with the giant hat and the giant glove.
It doesn’t occur to them that it’s a pitcher for pouring liquid.
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